Michael B. Jordan

Michael B. Jordan first piqued our interest as a player in All My Children, The Wire and Friday Night Lights. But 2013 is the year that the Newark, N.J., native achieved front-and-center status. In the starring role in the Sundance Festival prize-winner Fruitvale Station, Jordan's portrayal of 22-year-old Oscar Grant's last day alive (which tragically ended by his being shot in the back by a white transit cop in Oakland, Calif.), is one of his finest. "We just wanted to make it a realistic depiction of this man -- flaws and all. And give a little bit of his humanity back,"Jordan says. Fruitvale, produced by Forest Whitaker and directed by Ryan Coogler, was released to coincide with the verdict in the Trayvon Martin case, raising Jordan's profile even further.

Next up, Jordan is slated to star in a romantic comedy with Zac Efron, as well as in Coogler's next project, Creed, a film based on the Rocky movies, with Sylvester Stallone.